


Enough Wasted Time

by semperama



Series: Tumblr Ficlets - Pinto [18]
Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Birthday, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-12-02 08:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11505975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semperama/pseuds/semperama
Summary: Chris throws Zach a birthday party, but Zach doesn't seem to be having fun.





	Enough Wasted Time

If he blinked, he would have missed it. If he hadn’t known Zach as well as he did, if he hadn’t seen that expression slide across his face a hundred, a thousand times before. He waits for an opening in the conversation and makes his excuses, takes Zach by the wrist and leads him back toward the bathrooms, where the crowd is thin and the music is quieter and there is enough light to study his face. Here, Zach looks softer and more vulnerable, his eyes shifting here and there like he’s looking for escape. But he doesn’t try to escape, doesn’t even try to pull his hand out of Chris’s grip.

“What is it?” Chris asks, stroking his wrist, feeling subtly for his pulse. “Want me to drive you home?”

“What? Why would I want to go home?” Zach says, but he’s still avoiding Chris’s gaze, and that’s a dead giveaway. “It’s my birthday. I can’t just leave.”

“Hmm. Yeah. I can tell how much you want to stay.” Chris allows himself this one brief moment of self-pity; when it’s over, he’ll move on: “Is this not what you wanted?”

“Please, Chris,” Zach says, shaking his head. “It’s perfect. I just…”

That’s it. That tells Chris all he needs to know. “Wait here,” he says. “Don’t move.”

There are a few things he has to take care of. He finds Joe in the crowd, tells him that Zach isn’t feeling well and Chris is going to take him home. No, he doesn’t want to say goodbye first. Yes, please make his apologies. He shoves a wad of cash into Joe’s hand, just in case the sum he pre-paid in advance to rent out the bar and provide drinks for everyone doesn’t end up covering the whole thing. On his way back through the crowd, he says a quick goodbye to a few of their closest friends. Once he’s made it to the back of the bar again, he finds Zach exactly where he left him, leaning against the wall, looking more morose than when Chris walked away.

“Zach,” he breathes, a mixture of a exasperation and affection. “Come on. Let’s go.”

They slip out the back door and make their way to Chris’s car. Zach follows without protest, but once they’re inside, before Chris starts the car up, Zach reaches over and puts a hand on his arm, stilling him. The overhead light dims and then goes out, leaving only the orangey glow of the streetlight to see by. Zach’s eyes are shadowed, and he’s worrying his bottom lip with his teeth, but Chris watches him and doesn’t press, waiting for him to say what he wants to say. Whatever it is, it’s important. He can feel the weight of it pressing down on them already.

“I really was having fun,” Zach says finally. “I appreciate it. A lot. The party and…and everything. You went to a lot of trouble, I know.”

Chris rolls his eyes. “Alright, asshole. Don’t thank me. It’s what friends do.”

“Is it?”

“What?” Chris asks, the question leaving his lips on the end of a nervous laugh. “What does that mean?”

“No one does this kind of thing for me, Chris,” Zach says, gesturing around them as if they’re still standing in the middle of the party. “No one plans a big birthday bash. No one rents out an entire bar. I’m lucky if my friends even remember my birthday.”

Chris swallows hard. “Well, that’s bullshit.”

“No, that’s normal. People have their own lives. And we’re adults. Birthdays don’t—”

“Whoa, whoa.” Chris frowns, realizing suddenly that this is about something bigger than his feelings for Zach. “Don’t say birthdays don’t matter. You matter. You don’t really think a good friend would ignore your birthday, do you?”

Zach shrugs, looking away again. Chris wishes he would stop doing that. He wishes it so much that he’s reaching out before he can stop himself, palming the side of Zach’s face and coaxing him into meeting Chris’s gaze again.

“Listen,” he says, “I did this for you because you’re my friend, and you deserve to know how important you are, every day, but especially today.”

There is a moment where Zach looks stunned, his eyes wide and searching, like he’s waiting for the moment where Chris starts laughing and tells him he’s just kidding. And Chris’s feelings aside, this is heart-breaking. Zach really doesn’t think this is how friends behave. He really doesn’t know what it’s like to have someone do something nice for him just because, with no ulterior motive.

“Zach,” Chris says quietly. “I love you.” He watches it hit Zach, hard enough to make him flinch, then barrels on before he can lose his nerve. “I love you, but I didn’t throw you a party to get anything from you. I did it because I wanted you to be happy and have fun and know how much you mean to me, whether you feel the same way or not—”

But he’s cut off by Zach’s lips meeting his. It’s messy and off-center at first, Zach’s teeth biting into Chris’s lip and Zach’s hand mashed uncomfortably between Chris’s neck and the headrest. As first kisses go, it’s horrible actually. But it’s also the best thing that’s ever happened to Chris in his life. He’s so happy he doesn’t realize he hasn’t been kissing back until Zach starts to pull away, but that jolts him out of his head enough to curl a hand in Zach’s shirt and drag him back in so he can kiss him properly this time, licking the taste of tequila from the seam of his lips, pushing his other hand into that thick, dark hair that he’s always wanted to touch.

“Thank you,” Zach says against his mouth. “God, Chris, you’re—”

“Shut up,” Chris says, then kisses him again, harder. They have wasted enough time already.


End file.
